When it comes to email marketing, it seems like most things are targeted at business owners with services or products. However, there are blog posts all over Pinterest about why bloggers should have an email list as well.
Because so much content is targeted to business owners or “big” bloggers, I wanted to share the most important things that bloggers need to know when it comes to email marketing.
My goal is if you have your own email list or you’ve been thinking about creating one, you can be more successful with your email list and ultimately use it to help grow your brand!
1 | You can get more views on your content
One of the most common reasons you’re going to hear people say you need an email list is because you’ll actually be in control of the audience you build.
We all know that things are constantly changing on all of the social media platforms, and there are some changes that make it impossible to get your content out to even half of your audience, let alone everyone. I follow several lifestyle bloggers with multiple tens of thousands of followers, and even getting incredible engagement on their content, they still struggle to get seen by the majority of their audience.
This can be hard on lifestyle bloggers, especially, because you’re trying to get more views and engagement on your site so you can land sponsorships and collaborations.
So instead of sharing a blog post on social media, you can send an email about your new content to your email list with a link back to the post and get more clicks over to your website than you might have gotten from social media alone.
It’s important to note here that you’re likely going to have a small percentage of people on your email list that don’t see your emails. Whether they go to Spam or bounce altogether, I wouldn’t expect every single person to receive and open every single email. However, you’ll have a much greater possibility of the majority of your audience seeing your content than if you just shared on social media.
2 | You can send more than just your RSS feed
In my last point I talked about getting more views on your content, but if there’s one thing I want any blogger to take away from this blog post it would be this:
Your email list is more than just an RSS feed for subscribers.
Most bloggers create an email list, set up an RSS feed, and then generally don’t think about too much after that – especially new bloggers. However, you can do so much more than that.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I know that even most business owners at this point are sending out their blog posts via email, but think about how you can add additional value here and there for your subscribers.
Maybe in addition to linking to your latest blog post, you:
- Share a tip or a challenge that subscribers can work on implementing
- Round-up your favorite products on sale that month
- Link to an article, podcast, or video you love that week
You don’t have to take all of those ideas and use them in every single email, but you could rotate what content you share to see what your audience likes and engages with the most.
The great thing about sharing more than just a blog post in your newsletters is that you’re giving your audience an extra incentive for being on your list and opening your emails.
Another great thing about adding “bonus” content is that you open the door to get more engagement from your subscribers, which I’ll talk about in a minute.
So the next time you sit down to schedule another email about your latest blog post, think about how you can make it more fun for your subscribers.
3 | You can promote your products
Going along with the point I was just making about sending more than just your blog posts to your email list, another great content idea comes from promoting your product directly to your email list.
I know many bloggers have found ways to monetize their blog by creating things like ebooks or physical products, and those are the types of things that you definitely want to make sure you’re talking about in your newsletter.
Your email subscribers are your biggest fans; they’re the people that are most likely to buy what you’re selling.
This is why it’s so important to promote your products to your email list. Anyone who’s inviting you into their inbox is the more likely to buy your products more than just the people who follow you on social media.
In fact, if you have a product, and you haven’t shared it with your email list yet, then you have your action item for today!
If you don’t have a digital product…
It’s still a great idea to have an email list, and it’s actually a great time to start building your email list before you have a product that you want to sell.
Having an email list before you want to launch a product will give you a better idea of what your audience needs the most help with (because you can get ideas from your most engaged audience members).
It also gives you a head start on who you can promote your product to when you’re getting ready to launch it. It’s not impossible to launch a product with a small list, but it’ll give you extra things on your to do list to create and promote your newsletter when you could be focused on promoting your product.
Related: 5 Steps to Create Your First Digital Product
4 | You can get new blog post content ideas
One thing I remember from blogging before I had an email list was a little bit of a struggle of trying to figure out what to post. Once you have years under your belt of running your blog, it’s hard to not feel like you’re becoming a broken record year after year.
You can utilize your email list to get new content ideas from the people who are reading and engaging with your content the most.
There are a couple of ways that you could do this –
You could ask what they want to read about in your welcome email.
When I first started working on my email list for my business, I asked new subscribers what they were struggling with, but by tweaking the phrasing a little bit to what they want to read about, you could ask this if you’re working on your email list for your blog.
It may seem overly simple, but I got really great responses from my audience, which helped give me ideas on what new things I could talk about in my blog posts.
You could also send a reader survey to gauge their interest in different topics and ask for ideas.
Sending out surveys is seriously one of my favorite things to do for my business because I love getting to know the people in my audience more. In your case, as a blogger, it could give you a chance to ask what they’d like to see more of or what they want you to talk about.
It also gives you an idea of who is in your audience, which is very important if you’re wanting to work with brands on sponsorships or other collaborations.
I definitely recommend checking in with your audience at least once a year, but it’s even better if you send a survey every 6 months because so much can change in that time for your brand and for your audience.
5 | You get out of it what you put into it
Here’s the thing – you may know everything else I talked about in this post, but at the end of the day you really need to understand that you will only get out of your email list what you put into it.
If you only want your email list to function as a place to send your RSS feed, that’s totally okay.
However, if you want your email list to help you grow your blog and elevate your brand (making it easier to book collaborations) then it’s important to treat your email list like you treat your blog.
Take some time to put a little extra thought into what you’re sending your audience and how you’re engaging with them through your newsletter, and I can promise you that you’ll be setting yourself up for more success in the long run.
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